


Five Drabbles on Three Terror Bingo Prompts

by Styfas



Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Drabbles, Multi, Vampire Turning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:53:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29103603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Styfas/pseuds/Styfas
Summary: Spyglass -  What Lt. Irving sees and what he does about it.  (Best, Chambers,  Irving)  (Terror Bingo Card 2: John Irving)Looking for the Cat - They won't be literally looking for the cat.  (Gibson/Hickey)  (Terror Bingo Card 2: Free Space)Three Drabbles  on one Terror Bingo Prompt: Boat KnifeAs Befits Him - Cornelius Hickey considers three blades.  (Gibson, Hickey)Apologies - Mr. Goodsir: apology and non-apology in the mutineer camp. (Gibson, Hickey, Goodsir, canonical character death)No Choice - Mr. Hickey walks into the sick bay with a boat knife and a plan. (Hickey, Goodsir, Vampire Turning)
Relationships: William Gibson/Cornelius Hickey
Kudos: 7
Collections: The Terror Bingo





	Five Drabbles on Three Terror Bingo Prompts

**Author's Note:**

> **Spyglass** and **Looking for the Cat** are for my Terror Bingo Card #2. 
> 
> I couldn't make up my mind what to do with my Terror Bingo "Boat knife" prompt - so I decided to drabble the three things I had in mind. And with that, I have totally filled my first nine-square Bingo card (One completed fic has been sitting in my AO3 drafts for two weeks, waiting to be posted, though). But still, done! Hooray! Egad; all three of these boat knife fics involve Hickey. In two of the cases, I've borrowed canon scenarios - 🧡 with LOVE 🧡 - as inspiration for whatever else I did with said scenarios.
> 
> Thanks, as always, to [Drac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drac), who introduced me to The Terror in the first place, and who are the second to read my fics (after me).
> 
> Disclaimers: I do/did not know any of the irl people mentioned in the fics. Also, the "characters" as they occur in the AMC version of The Terror belong to AMC, producers, writers, actors, and everybody else who ever had anything to do with the programme.
> 
> This is fiction, and I am not making any money from this.

**Spyglass**

If Lieutenant Irving squints just enough while looking through his spyglass, he can see two men talking on the upper deck on Erebus. They’re facing each other and standing very close.

Ship’s Boy Georgie Chambers and Able Seaman Charles Best; what might be the topic of their conversation? It’s the first voyage for both, he’s heard. They’ve likely forged a friendship, sharing the same complaints about the cold, the ice-locked ships, and the terrible cuisine.

Now they’re sharing kisses.

If they were Terrors, he could inform.

He quickly collapses the spyglass and turns away. Not his ship; not his duty.

**Looking for the Cat**

“Shall we go looking for the cat?” Hickey asks, raising his eyebrows. 

“I don’t think that excuse will work a second time,” Gibson says. 

“We’ll find a secluded storage area.”

“Cornelius, we can’t risk-”

“Meeeeowwww.” Hickey grins. “Where _is_ that cat, Billy? Where? Where is it?”

Gibson turns away, unable to stifle a chuckle. “Stop that.”

“Meeeeowwww…” Hickey slinks up behind him and slips his arms around his waist. “Come with me,” he purrs. He leads the way, and Gibson follows. 

Minutes later, both men are yowling with pleasure.

The ship’s cat slowly approaches and peers at the spectacle: _Meow?_

**As Befits Him**

Cornelius lifts an officer’s knife from the silver service that Billy’s been polishing while they converse. It looks to be a butter knife; Cornelius isn’t sure – but as he studies his reflection in that rounded blade’s impeccably smooth shine, he sees himself clearly and distinctly; this in contrast to his pointed boat knife, in which his image is decidedly blurred. His square-edged caulker’s blade is so scratched from repeated use of oakum and pitch as to obliterate any semblance of reflection.

This officer’s knife befits his aspirations. He _deserves_ to own it.

Cornelius surreptitiously pockets his prize and walks away.

**Apologies**

Mr. Goodsir is resolved: he won’t apologize to Mr. Gibson.

Things change after Hickey stabs Gibson in the back with a boat knife.

After unsuccessfully fighting him, Goodsir looks defiantly at Hickey – and then gently into Gibson’s eyes, touching a half-gloved hand against his cheek. With Hickey there, Goodsir won’t say aloud what he hopes his gaze and touch will convey: _I apologize for how I treated you earlier. I’m sorry that your friend betrayed you, and that I couldn’t save you from him._

With Gibson gone, Goodsir turns away.

He’ll never apologize to Hickey for comforting a dying man.

**No Choice**

Mr. Hickey walks into the sick bay with a boat knife and a plan.

“What can I do for you?” Mr. Goodsir asks.

“You can keep calm,” Hickey says. He lunges, pushes Goodsir against the wall, and sets the blade against his jugular. Goodsir panics, of course. Just as well; blood tastes better when the subject is afraid.

“Please… Don’t kill-”

“I’ll let _you_ choose, Mr. Goodsir: Dead? Or Undead?” He slips opens the man’s cravat and releases the top shirt button. 

“I don’t understand…”

Hickey smiles. “You will soon enough,” he says, and sinks his fangs into Goodsir’s neck.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! ❤
> 
> Apparently, The ill-fated Franklin Expedition was Georgie Chambers' *second* voyage - and he only lasted 5 days on his first voyage. So, for all we know, yeah, Lt. Irving did hear that it was George's first voyage. <\--- Rationalization. ;)


End file.
